Today's Bible Reading: PSALM 22-26   Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me   A valley provides lush vegetation and cool streams for grazing sheep. But danger is also lurking in the cliffs and crevasses of the mountains that surround them. Predators are watching and waiting for an opportune time to pounce upon the unsuspecting sheep. The sheep are defenseless a

Today's Bible Reading : PSALM 12-17, 19-21   Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.   The pleasures of this world lure us. They tantalize us and they draw us. We want to experience the ecstasy they afford. We want to bath in their bliss. We desire to be caught up in their feeling of euphoria. We hope for the happiness that worldly pleasures will bring.   Here David directs us

Today's Bible Reading: 1 KINGS 2:1-12, 2 SAMUEL 23:1-7, 1 CHRONICLES 29:26-30, PSALM 4-6; 8-9;11  Psalm 4:7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound .   Joy can be elusive. It is a stranger to many of us. Distress, depression, disillusionment and difficulty can distance us from joy. We can seek it and not find it. We can strive for it and never attain it. It evades us. It escapes our grasp. It is unreachable. But David found it and sha

Today's Bible Reading: 1 CHRONICLES 29:1-22, 1 KINGS 1:1-53    1 Chronicles 29:16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for your Holy name is form Your hand, and is all Your own.   The Lord possesses all things and provides all things. These are two clear affirmations that David makes in our text. He knew that everything is the Lord’s and from the Lord. As he was accumulating supplies to build the temple, this profound truth overtook hi

Today's Bible Reading:  1 CHRONICLES 26:1-28:21   1 Chronicles 28:9 “ And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. ”   We are all given tasks and assignments throughout life. At school we have homework. At home we have chores. At work we have ta

Today's Bible Reading: 1 CHRONICLES 23:1-25:31     1 Chronicles 25:6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king.   Singing has always been a vital part of the believer’s worship experience. It was the Lord who arranged for singing in the service. He assigned gifted skilled musicians to lead His people to p

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 24:1-25, 1 CHRONICLES 21:1-22:19 2 Samuel 24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.   The Christian life comes at a cost. There is no such thing as costless Christianity. Salvation is free. Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to secure our salvation. Nothing

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 22:1-51, PSALM 18   2 Samuel 22:30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. Ps 18:29 We have many things that overwhelm us.  There are many “troops” that hinder our progress and many “walls” that halt our advance. We become stalled. We are at a standstill. We want to move forward. We want to get past these walls. We have tried and failed. We have fought and lost. We want to, but can’t.   David encountered diff

As the winter snows melt and water the flowers in the meadows and valleys below, may you experience the fresh renewal that these daily...

Today's Bible Reading:  2 SAMUEL 19:31-20:26, 21:1-22PSALM 7 1 CHRONICLES 20:4-8   2 Samuel 19:32  Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.   For many of us we characterize senior adults as greedy, self-absorbed and set in their ways. It seems that their primary focus is themselves. They had worked hard and cared for others all their lives and now it was time to care for the

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 17:15-19:30; PSALM 3, 63 Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you: my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.   We are eager for many things; for the check to come in, the semester to be over, the job to be done, the baby to be born and for the wedding to happen. Anticipation beckons action. Eagerness elicits earnestness. When one is genuinely earnest about something they

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 15:1-17:14    2 Samuel 16:12 “It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.”   People will talk, yet the Lord sees and hears them. Their word is not final, His is. What truly is evil against you today, the Lord can turn to good tomorrow.   David was escaping Jerusalem. His son Absolom had “stolen the hearts of the people” away from him. He now had declared himself Kin

Today’s Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 5:14-16, 11:1-12:35; 1 CHRONICLES 3:5-9, 14:3-7. 20:1   Psalm 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.   Sinners need saints. Those engrossed in sin, need those who have escaped from sin. Those, whose sins are massive, need those whose sins found mercy. It is the experienced who educate those entangled.   David had sinned. It wasn’t insignificant. His insurrection was intense. His sin was substantial. His

April 27th Today's Bible Reading No Longer 2 Samuel 14:14 We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. Often, we feel like we are outcast. We think that God has banished us. We presume that we are exiled from the exalted One.  It may be because of doubt or because of some sin that we feel this way. But our feelings are not

Today’s Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 8:15-10:19; 1 CHRONICLES 18:14-19-19   2 Samuel 9:13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.   Mephibosheth was the last remaining descendant of Saul. He was Johnathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. David had a deep abiding friendship with Jonathan. Because of their relationship David made a covenant with Jonathan to care for his descendants forever (1 Sam 11:42). Jonathan died in

Today’s Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 7:1-8:14; 1 CHRONICLES 17:1-8:13; PSALM 60   Ps 60:11 Give us help from trouble. For the help of man is useless.     We all have troubling days. We experience moments when we are overwhelmed and overcome by life. We live the lyrics of the Beatles song Help : “ Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please, please help me .” We just need someone to help us get

Undignified Today’s Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 6:12-23; 1 CHRONICLES 15:1-16:43   2 Samuel 6:14 Then David danced before the Lord with and all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.   Church should be a celebration. It should be a celebration of all that God is and all that He has done in our lives. It should be a jubilee of joy. His presence should penet

Today’s Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 5:1-6:11; 1 CHRONICLES 11:1-14:2   1 Chronicles 13:14 And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he had.   God’s presence makes a difference. Blessings follow those who bring the Lord’s presence into their home. His presence directs the dynamic of the home. His presence affects every aspect of family life. It shapes every relationship. It sw

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 3:6-4:12 2 Samuel 3:18 (1Sam 28:17) Now then, do it, (NKJV) for the LORD has promised David, saying, ‘By...

Today's Bible Reading: 2 SAMUEL 2:1-3:5, 23:8-39; 1 CHRON 3:1-4, 11:10-47 2 Samuel 23:9-10 And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the LORD brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him o